73rd of Ash, 4621
“I sincerely hope for your sake that you’re joking,” came the Necrodoctor’s declaration with an amused raise of his brows, as though he prepared to laugh. Arkash pursed his lips in turn, showing that he was indeed serious.
“Why would I joke with you?” Arkash retorted with a frown. “I think I’ve made it very clear that I don’t like you; we’re so far from joking terms,” the rath elaborated with a turn of his human hand. Briefly, he thought of how a noble might rub salt in the fresh wound they’d caused with their words, and he shrugged before adding “sorry if that’s not obvious. I thought it was.” He crossed his arms beneath his frown, clearly upset by the rejection.
“Oh…!” Raphael returned with a rise in his tone. “You do wound me, lizard. And after I’ve been so hospitable to you, too…” the mage started, tongue dripping with sarcasm. “I was even nice enough to forgive your tardiness on your journey home from the badlands, oh dear.” The mage shook his head dramatically. “Well, I was thinking of helping you-.”
“-You were?” Arkash returned, far too hopeful.
Raphael grinned. “I was, but your attitude… Oh! I fear my heart can’t take much more cruelty!” The mage removed his gore-covered gloves to lift the back of his hand to his head as if he felt faint. Arkash rolled his eyes. “No, in fact,” the Veir continued, “I don’t think I can even stand to look at you. Get out, go!” He continued in an eccentric fashion over the incapacitated mage on his operating table, waving his arms to shoo off the 'guised Rathor.
Arkash narrowed his eyes in a squint. Anger festered in his bones while he watched the human in disgust. On the spot, he turned and took two steps toward the door.
“There is one thing… That might alleviate my grief,” Raphael added.
Arkash waved a hand to dismiss the request before it was even delivered. “Not interested!” he projected his voice so that his Master might hear him without turning his head as he walked out the laboratory door.
He’d suspected Raphael might refuse to help. No, he’d expected it. Raphael would do nothing for him until he initiated the mage in blood magic. He was, at least, allowed to wander free until then. For how much longer, he didn’t know. A sigh escaped him as he climbed the spiral staircase, and took a sharp right on the first landing to exit through the door of the bright, sunny courtyard.
A short trip through the grass that lined the main path led him to the front gate, where he passed the Halamire then followed the dirt path that drastically contrasted the grass within the walls toward town some distance, before he broke off-road, away from the river, and walked toward the locale that he’d left his giant, rotting savior.
He’d thought for some time on the way back to the fortress, after being saved by the other Rath, about what he might do if Raphael refused to simply repair Reiss. He had some semblance of a plan, but it would require effort from both his and Reiss’s parts. It wasn’t all that ethical, or particularly legal either. But what would Raphael do if he was caught? Kill him? Laughable at best.
The sun was becoming more and more a problem for the young rath while he walked, and he believed himself far enough off-road to assume his true form without consequence. So, he did. Quickly, his shape changed, and the bare feet that met with the hot terrain beyond the fortress walls steadily grew their talon-like claws, and the skin that covered his form morphed seamlessly to small basalt plates. He let out an exhale to dispel some of the warmth that was otherwise trapped in his humanoid form, then adjusted his rags to better fit his new bone structure as all the details set.
A deep breath flared his nostrils, and he looked about the area to confirm no one had seen him before he proceeded with adept feet into the arid savannah.
Before too long, he came upon the decline of earth that he’d left her at, just to wait while Arkash scoped out the situation. “Reiss!” He called, cupping two hands around his mouth to further project his voice. His voice echoed in the sloping valley of red earth. “I Have news!” He called out into the open, then proceeded down the slope. There were lots of nooks and crannies for her to slip inside in the depths of the canyon he’d discovered, and without a heartbeat, the only identifier that allowed him to find her was her smell.
One of his favorite things about the Canyon was that the shade gave him an opportunity to cool off, and the sunlight didn’t often reach the bottom directly, so the sand there was cold. If it weren’t for his mutation, he’d surely hate the space and resolve to find a different hiding spot, but because of his heat retention, it was helpful to hang around in the shade to cool off.
The valley itself was rife with hiding opportunities, which was why he’d chosen to hide her there. There were caves of all sorts, large boulders in the sand to conceal larger frames. In addition to the plentiful hiding opportunities, there was no wind down there. The tall, rocky walls of the canyon meant that there was no breeze to carry any such smell of decay. Arkash furrowed his brow. That was great because it meant that No one would catch a whiff of her and track down her rotting cadaver, but it also meant it would be harder to find her.
He didn’t think her the type to deliberately hide and jump out at him when he wasn’t expecting it, despite how common horror stories depicted their monsters, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t. He squinted as he neared one such boulder. “Reiss! It’s me, Arkash! You can come out now!” he called again, throwing his voice off the tall stone walls that surrounded them on all sides. Where was she? What had happened in the Canyon while he was gone?
